Monday, July 22, 2013

Humans stoked Australia’s unprecedented ‘angry summer’ heat, study finds: "WASHINGTON—Human influences that drive global warming are likely to have played a role in Australia's exceedingly hot summer of 2013, the hottest in that country’s observational record. A new study shows that global warming has increased the chances of Australians experiencing record hot summers, such as the summer of 2013, by more than five times.

"Our research has shown that, due to greenhouse gas emissions, these types of extreme summers will become even more frequent and more severe in the future," said Sophie Lewis of the University of Melbourne in Victoria,Australia, who is lead author of the study."

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Australian Bus & Coach, July 1, 2013
Western
Australia’s Public Transport Authority (PTA) has fast-tracked the
development of a new $8.2 million free bus service, ahead of major rail
disruptions.
Perth commuters have again been warned to prepare
for mass rail shutdowns related to the Perth City Link redevelopment
planned for Friday July 12 to Wednesday July 17.
The new Green
CAT bus service was launched on June 30, as part of a $46.7 million plan
to ease the city’s congestion and help manage the rail shutdowns.
Western
Australian Transport Minister Troy Buswell says the service will
transport passengers between Leederville and Perth's CBD, starting July
1.
The service joins three existing free CAT services, which have operated for about 20 years.
“People are voting with their feet when it comes to our CAT buses, with eight million boardings a year,” Buswell says.
“They
are hugely popular modes of transport and I expect the Green CAT will
be the same, with commuters likely to use it as an alternative way into
the city, or for those who want to head into Leederville to shop or meet
friends for a coffee.”
The Green CAT will connect Leederville
with the Esplanade Busport and is the fourth CAT route introduced to
deal with growing population.
Seven new buses will operate on the route, which is timetabled to run Monday to Friday from 6am to 7.30pm.
CAT service passenger boardings account for five percent of the total number of public transport boardings a year.
The Green CAT has 19 stops on its route and will run every eight minutes in peak.
Each bus can potentially take more than 50 cars off the road.

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Green Left Weekly: "More than 200 pensioners rallied on the steps of Victoria’s parliament house on July 10.

...At the state level, they called for better pensioner concessions for utilities and council rates, free public transport for pensioners, and the reintroduction of the pensioner discount on motor registration.

Friday, July 12, 2013

In this taped interview it is agreed that free public transport would result in a 20% increase in ridership. But it was also agreed that this is a bad idea, since the buses and trains in Melbourne are already full in peak hours. That means that fares are there to ration by discouraging ridership. Instead the response should be that if 20% more people are willing to take public transport we should invest in more equipment.

Greens' Safe Climate Bill

Travelling with a light footprint
Australia's cities and suburbs are increasingly being built around cars, not people, and more of our intercity travel and freight is going by road or air instead of rail. In a world where peak oil and climate change are converging, this has to change fast.
We have to redesign our cities for people instead of cars, with urban villages connected by fast, efficient and convenient buses, trams and trains, cycleways and pedestrian paths. We have to give ourselves real alternatives to flying between cities. We have to end the subsidies to fossil fuel based transport. We have to think a few steps into the future, instead of repeating the same old mistakes of the past. ReadMore [pdf]